Mother of IPDN suspect speaks out

The mother of a student allegedly involved in the death of Institute of Public Administration sophomore Cliff Muntu has spoken out about violence at the campus in Sumedang, West Java.

Mimi Youku Mehue, the mother of Frans Albert Youku, one of nine suspects in Cliff's death, announced that her son had also been a victim of brutality at the school.

Mimi said Frans, who is now being detained at Sumedang Police headquarters, had once suffered fractured ribs after being beaten by senior students.

She said it was unfair to name Frans a suspect and expel him from the college, adding that he had told her that he had not taken part in beating Cliff.

Frans told her about his fractured ribs during the 2006 Christmas holidays, she said.

"He complained about an ache in his chest and showed me how part of his ribs was bent inward. He told me they were cracked," said Mimi after meeting with representatives of the institute's rectory at the campus to demand a reevaluation of her son's expulsion.

She said she wanted to make the request before her son went to trial.

She also said that violence was indoctrinated at the campus and that when Frans was told to have an X-ray he refused because "as a male he was ashamed".

Meanwhile, at least 10 former students who studied at the institute in the early 1990s were also on campus, where they spoke about the death of fellow student Aliyan.

They said that Aliyan had fallen from the second floor of the school and was taken to hospital, where he died. He was not beaten to death, as earlier reports had claimed, they said.

Hasanudin, one of the 10, said Aliyan fell from the second floor of the Lampung barracks on June 8, 1993. He injured his head and was first taken to a hospital in Sumedang and then Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung.

"He really fell. We are ready to take an oath that he was not beaten up," Hasanudin said.

Aliyan is one of 17 students whose deaths are being investigated by police for having suspicious elements. A total of 35 students have died at IPDN since 1993, according to Inu Kencana Syafiie, a lecturer at the institute.

Inu documented the deaths in a special report, which is still being processed by the West Java Police.

The institute, a training ground for bureaucrats, is known for its militaristic culture, although President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has enacted moves to change this.